Wahaj

Type

Production

Infos

A film written and directed by François Dupaquier
Original sound track by Mikael Bentz
Broadcast on France 5
Selected for FIPA 2011 in the French Creation Situation category
Best short film award at the 2010 « Songe d’une nuit DV » international film festival

‘Wahaj’ is the everyday life of thousands of children who ask nothing but to be free to think and act like those of their age, to forget war and fear for a moment, to laugh and play freely, to grow up and thrive. ‘Wahaj’ is quite simply the right to be a child.

For decades, the Middle-East has been at the centre of recurring and latent conflicts. War displaces populations, destroys infrastructures and turns landscapes into ruins. However, beyond the clear aftermaths that are for everyone to see in the media, more discreet and deceitful consequences undermine these societies. For Arab children, war is not over when canons stop firing: forgotten aftereffects hamper children’s development, especially when it prevents them from playing and dreaming of a better future.

In South Lebanon, after the 2006 war, fear is lurking, coming out of all the bombs still strewing the ground. Parents speak out about this permanent dread and forever changed childhood. In Palestine, after over 50 years of a latent conflict, young Palestinian refugee Tamer is growing up in a violent political climate, which has made him a man prematurely despite his family’s concerns.

Through two individual stories, Wahaj aims at showing the aftereffects of conflicts on childhood, but also raises the latent question of whether dreaming of a better future is still possible when your young years have been marked forever.

For decades, the Middle-East has been at the centre of recurring and latent conflicts. War displaces populations, destroys infrastructures and turns landscapes into ruins. However, beyond the clear aftermaths that are for everyone to see in the media, more discreet and deceitful consequences undermine these societies. For Arab children, war is not over when canons stop firing: forgotten aftereffects hamper children’s development, especially when it prevents them from playing and dreaming of a better future.

In South Lebanon, after the 2006 war, fear is lurking, coming out of all the bombs still strewing the ground. Parents speak out about this permanent dread and forever changed childhood. In Palestine, after over 50 years of a latent conflict, young Palestinian refugee Tamer is growing up in a violent political climate, which has made him a man prematurely despite his family’s concerns.

Through two individual stories, Wahaj aims at showing the aftereffects of conflicts on childhood, but also raises the latent question of whether dreaming of a better future is still possible when your young years have been marked forever.